Why Oilers should embrace potential first-round series vs. Golden Knights

EDMONTON — By Nicolas Hague’s way of thinking, the Edmonton Oilers should embrace a first-round series against his Vegas Golden Knights, the team that vanquished Edmonton last spring en route to their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

But what about playing Los Angeles? Or the outside chance of drawing Nashville?

“There’s no easy path,” advised playoff veteran Jonathan Marchessault. “You just embrace the challenge when it comes in front of you.”

As the Oilers and Golden Knights meet tonight for the final time before the playoffs begin, there is a better than decent chance that the Oilers will face the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1 for the third consecutive spring, and nearly as strong a possibility that Vegas could finish third in the Pacific and open at Edmonton.

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Yes, the Oilers could still dethrone Vancouver at the top of the Division, but with this string of six games in nine nights opening with Connor McDavid listed as a “game-time decision” tonight, we’ll cede first place in the Pacific to the Canucks for the purposes of this column.

So, do players really go home at night and stress over which team they’ll draw in the playoffs? If they do, according to Marchessault, they’re wasting their time.

“You know,” began the crafty winger who buried the Oilers with a Game 6, natural hat trick last May, “in some other years I was trying to figure out the easier matchups. The easier path to win.

“When we lost against Washington (in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final), I hoped for Wash because I thought we could match up better against Washington than Tampa. And look at us. We lost in five games.”

The Golden Knights made their first journey to the Cup Final in 2017-18, their maiden season as an NHL franchise. In their six seasons of existence, they’ve missed the playoffs once, played in 15 series, and lost just four of them.

Marchessault is an original Golden Knight, and has learned this much over the years:

“There’s no easy task in front of you,” he said. “Whoever we get — for us it could be Edmonton, could be Dallas or Vancouver. There’s no easy task. It’s the playoffs — anything can happen.”

If history is written by the victors, then it’s no coincidence that the playoff series the Oilers lost to Vegas last spring is recalled by many as more lopsided than it truly was.

In fact, the Oilers held a lead in each of the six games, and with the series tied 2-2, the Oilers had control of Game 5 in Vegas, leading 2-1 halfway through the game. Then penalty troubles struck, and Vegas wired home for three goals in 1:29.

The series never turned back.

The Golden Knights won Game 5 by a 4-3 score, and took care of business in Game 6 with a 5-2 back in Edmonton. As head coach Bruce Cassidy recalls, “I thought we got better in certain areas that Edmonton was really good at.”

Vegas’ penalty kill shored itself up, after Draisaitl scored four times in Game 1 (twice on the powerplay) in a losing cause. “We got better at taking away some of McDavid’s ice and options as (the series) went along. You can never take a guy like that out of a series, but you can minimize damage.”

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If they asked this sportswriter who Edmonton should want in Round 1, we’d say Vegas all the way. A third consecutive win over the Kings does not inject any confidence into the Oilers.

But defeating the Golden Knights in Round 1? That would be a springboard that would launch any team into the rest of their playoff journey with momentum and confidence.

And if the Oilers can’t get past Vegas again? Then let’s find that out right away and not waste everyone’s time.

“If you want to be the best, then you’ve got to beat everyone, right?” said Hague. “Whether it’s in the first round, the Cup Final or somewhere in between, you can’t worry about matchups too much.”

He wasn’t speaking specifically about Edmonton, but rather, about what he’s learned along the way.

“You want to the best, right? So whatever path you take to get there doesn’t really matter,” the big rearguard said. “It’s going to be about how your team plays and whether you’re good enough to move on.

“No matter who you’re playing.”

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